Opinions and conclusions posted here may change..and that's life

Monthly Archives: December 2013

I’ve been back home almost a month now, and reverse culture shock comes in different forms. It’s not all horrible, there are funny moments, like when the woman at the Safaricom unleashes a rehearsed twang. I really enjoyed our conversation, listening to her ‘tarlking like theat’ because only Kenyans fake accents.

Re-entry shock started to hit me when I inevitably started to compare home to the past 2 years away. I couldn’t help compare the cost of living with Pakistan, Pakistan with its many problems is so much cheaper than Kenya. Fine, I lived in a questionable apartment block, and our water was delivered by a bored white donkey every 3 days, but for the stipend that I was earning, I had a pretty good life. That money would go nowhere in Nairobi. Off course there are some things that work for Pakistan – they have huge deposits of CNG (compressed natural gas) make it cheap so that even street food vendors use it instead of makaa, and many cars use CNG too instead of petrol. But having resources does not make something cheap, the price of fuel in Nigeria for example is not cheap, and the 2 countries are comparable when it comes to corruption.

CNG mtungi fueling the truck- Karachi 2011

Reverse culture shock also happens in conversations. I met with some friends and we speculated, reminisced, philosophised and talked about apparently crazy past girlfriends (not mine). In that conversation I was also reminded of the reality of Kenyan politics. We talked about the media bill, the ruling family keen to dominate dairy in East Africa, with an interesting steak in media and banking and other not so influential industries. It was just observations, not judgment…maybe…then there was the conversation about the VAT bill, I heard about it from afar, and it really disappointed and alarmed me when it was first proposed. Yes we have a bigger government, and it’s more expensive to run, but surely, there are other ways to finance former vice presidents’ homes than making the people at the bottom of the pyramid pay for it, aren’t there? I know bread and flour are still exempt but I know they are still unaffordable to someone, say a watchman, who earns 4k a month in NAIROBI. You and I reading this, probably just think it unpleasant, and something being unpleasant isn’t a matter of survival.

Reverse culture shock hit me when I compared the difference between the rich and the poor in Kenya to the UK. That gap, will always exist ANYWHERE in the world, the only difference is in how the poor live. Safety nets are meant to cushion the poor, they are meant to ensure a decent minimum standard of living. Safety nets don’t come cheap though, but neither are proper tax systems. In France for example, everything you earn over a million euros is taxed 50% per annum, that’s bloody painful. But then I consider a French friend who moved there to start his business, he gets €800 from the state for the time that he won’t have an income.

Driven by our conversation and the re-entry shock, I decided to start a photo-project. I was going to take 50 pictures of 50 Kenyans and their thoughts about Kenya’s 50th Anniversary – or general life. I started the project on a Tuesday, and 8 people I spoke to had nothing positive to say. They spoke of the price of food, of the increased rent they had to pay. Kenya is for the rich, some of them said, poor people are trash to leaders another said.

The conversations honestly depressed naive me because they forcibly reminded me of the gap between the rich and the poor. It depressed me because they asked me what I was going to do with their views and opinions, and I had nothing to say about that. It depressed me because the people I spoke to were all self-employed and with income, and that there are millions of people far worse off than they claimed to be. It depressed me because citizens of a country shouldn’t be so detached from each others’ reality. It depressed me that because of this detachment, we are indifferent to whatever happens in Garissa or Moyale, but we pay attention to Westgate. Let’s not excuse such indifference as human nature, we can rise above human nature.

Statistically though, 10 people is not enough to be depressed about. So, determined to finish the photo-project, I went back on Saturday. This time, literally nobody had time to speak to me, they were too busy making money. The cobbler had 5 people sitting in-line outside his narrow mabati/paper stall, the kinyozi who doubled up his business by charging people’s phones had nothing positive to say, but also mentioned he was too tired as he had just arrived from his first job, the shoe guy had to rush off to deliver someone’s shoes, and left me with the other guy who was too busy trying to serve a customer, the popcorn lady thought ‘hivyo ni vizuri‘ but had no time to speak to me as she was too busy packing popcorn into bags for collection. Only the fruit guy spoke to me, amidst frequent interruption. Business was booming, at least on a Saturday, there was no time for talk. My photo-project suddenly had no direction.

It is not lost on me, that consumerism is increasing alarmingly- at least in Nairobi, and not around the usual spots. Perhaps yet another mall in Westlands is no big deal. But literally everywhere I have been, new malls/shopping centres have cropped up: Kangemi, Donholm, Mlolongo, Ronga, Westlands, Loresho, Karen. A street I knew in Kawangware is literally about to disappear because the market has expanded. Capitalism says consumer culture makes the world (and economy) go round. Even Naivasha is now set for a 22,000 sq.feet mall (Sarit is 30,000).

It’s always difficult for me to end such reflective posts. It’s difficult because there’s no conclusion, there’s no end of the story, it’s always a work-in-progress. The 1000 words is not enough to change Kenya, but I think it’s realistic to hope that this post also starts a work-in-progress for you. That if Westgate touched a nerve, that you will remember Kenyans far removed from our reality that face the same terror frequently. I hope that if you are an employer, you will consider paying your workers (that watchie and that housie) an amount that will allow them to appreciate Kenya’s 50 years of independence, I hope that you who can afford private schools for your kids will push in whatever way possible for more effective free primary education, I hope that you entrepreneur, will consider social impact as part of your goal.